Watching nature take its course, from the top of a hill in northern England

The Sting in the Tale

Down by the compost heap something caught my eye, a patch of nettles that from a distance looked as though it was covered in black pea pod sort of things; further investigations revealed these beauties, as black as Whitby jet

There are hundreds of caterpillars out there, Joe says there are so many, they may eat the house during the night (he has inherited his mothers over active imagination, poor lad, either that or he has been on strange PC games again).

They seemed to be emerging from places like this

Dressed in cropped trousers and sandals, I wasn’t for getting any further into the nettle patch, this is as close as it gets.

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Watching the rhythm of rural life, from the top of a hill in northern England.
Having spent most of my life avoiding writing, I now need to do it!
I am no domestic goddess, but if I were expecting visitors to my home, I would whisk round with the duster and plump up the cushions and generally make the place look presentable. I hope that by putting my words where others may see them it will encourage me to ‘tidy up and push the Hoover around’ my writing.
On the other hand I may just be adding to the compost heap. Only time will tell!
Pull up a chair, sit yourself down, I’ll put the kettle on.

We once had a plague of caterpillars like that in a tree here. What alerted me to their presence was the noise of them munching! They were getting through the leaves of, maybe a copper beech, at a frightening rate. A guest who saw them was all for destroying right away, but I couldn’t do that. Maybe they turned into something exotic and glamorous like yours are going to do.

GACK! Those look like a particularly fierce variety of tent caterpillars. At least yours turn into attractive butterflies. And anything that eats nettles before I can stumble into them can’t be all bad. But good grief, those look as if they could munch through an entire woodlot in no time at all.

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Uphilldowndale

Watching nature take its course, from the top of a hill in a rural area of Derbyshire, England......
Here I write about this, that and the other; posts are about whatever catches my eye, or captures my imagination: my take on the world usually comes from a rural perspective, but I make no promises.......
I have a bit of a ‘magpie’ mind, it is eclectic and has a preference for collecting bright shiny things. Comments are very welcome.
We are a family of four; my self, Mr Uphilldowndale (Mr Uhdd), and our sons, Tom aged 20 and Joe 18 . In addition there's Jammy and Dodger the kittens, 5 maverick chickens and last but not least a bouncy dog named Spud, who has many adventures
I love the landscape here and the wildlife, I have a special interest in lumps of rock, as you will see if you stay around for a while.......
Welcome to this blog, I hope you find something of interest, and if you do, please call again; next time you are passing.
Heather Uphilldowndale